butif it needs you to fearif it needs you to hateif it needs you to findforeigners to blame

then turn awayfrom each liecase by casebecause racismxenophobiahomophobiahypocrisyand distortion of scienceare in evidence

the truth puts us on trialthe future will be our judge

with history as our hostile witness.

________________________________

Andrew Bolt is a piece of shit stuck to our collective shoe, and I'm wiping my feet tonight, taking a little solace in the realisation that, popular as he is now, ultimately history will catch up to him and all his bullshit.

The future will not look back on racism, xenophobia, homophobia, hypocrisy, and distortion of scientific data kindly. He's destined to be remembered as favourably as Senator Joseph McCarthy. Same goes for Alan Bond, Kenneth Lay, Mel Gibson, Pauline Hanson, Reverend Fred Phelps, Darryl Gates, David Duke and Bill O Reilly, to name a few.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

that Gil Scot Heron saidthe revolution will not be televisedbecause by all accounts, it has been-uploadeddownloadedYouTubedfacebookedand it was exactlythat kind of social mediaactually helped recent revolutions in what we're currently callingthe Arab spring

ironiclike stickerssporting environmental slogansstuck on the back of carsahh.. you might as well carry a gunwith'give peace a chance'written on the barrel

it is ironiclike it's ironicthat many consider the bicyclemore dangerousto people on roadsthan cars are

in the quick crucifixedcensorship of violence bible bashing uswith pro-life death penaltiesignorant guardians of informationbigoted diatribe editorial scrawlspeaking out-rage in writingover what someone else said

while in the meantimethe keep left signs point nowhereso-called social outcasts moulding themselvesidealisttrying to deny that they're just a different stripeof ideologue, they keep hiding behind the Bush'saccusing Obama of being worse than his predecessorprincipally because he's had to compromise

I guess the left handed-heavyhave not yet been able toreal-eyesthat if you really wantthe type of benevolent dictatorwielding the kind of autocratic sweep you've described that he should keepyou'll have to do more than elect one

the only conclusion you seem able to reachis oh, well, umm, y'know he should just make another speech

forgetting what he saidwhen he was announced president-elect:"I promise to always listen to youespecially at times when we disagree the most"

no idle boasttaken to askwhile I askis there irony made out ofideas we claim to embraceand those we don'tin whom we point our fingers atand at whom we won't

listening selectively to leaderswho tell us to disregard the sciencebecause it's inconclusivenot understanding that the power science hasover religious dogmais that it never purportsto have a conclusive answer

I don't have any answers either

just thoughts and ideas(thank god)and I can't help but thinkingthat revolution also means 'spin'a political revolution need plenty of spinto cover for the factthat they have rarelyif-everhave changed a fucking thing

irony defines more revolutionsthan revolution have defined change

the revolution has been televised

and even if you haven't stayed home brotheryou're still couching your concernglobalin a two-sided ideologue shit fightso insteadof telling meto choose a sideas if people taking sideshas ever helped anythingin human historyexcept their own sense of pride

think you need to take a closer lookI see no sides worth takingon a planet spinning it's own revolutionsday for night

because this turning world truly has no sides.

________________________________

This poem was retooled from a more left-leaning soap boxy affair I'd punched out back in April, revamped for a gig last week paying tribute to the late, great Gil Scot Heron.

It was a great line up of local poets, and most of the work was politically inclined so instinctively, rather than getting high on my own supply, I went for the chance to be a dissenter amongst dissenters to then night, I think it was successful for the most part, if nothing else this statement (or anti-statement) added another texture to the evening.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

This Sunday, Sweetalkers November sees the stage graced by the face of interstate poetry sage ROBIN ARCHBOLD, down from Queensland to show and tell us a thing or two about a thing or two, along with the amazing LINDA BEATTY and her unique blend of harp-paying cabaret stand up comedy, if that doesn't sound funny enough we're also unleashing the full force of BEN POBJIE's vitriol on you, complimenting the pathos and power of emerging poet BRONWYN LOVELL.

BEN POBJIE

Author, comedian, poet, commentator, raconteur - is there no end to the words Ben knows how to spell? Perhaps not, but he also does other things too. With no journalistic qualifications whatsoever, he has a weekly column at Australian news commentary site newmatilda.com, and his writing has appeared in Crikey, The Age and The Punch, among others.

In between regularly harassing Australia's editors with his vaguely satirical ramblings, he blogs at benpobjie.blogspot.com, podcasts at gatheraround.me, and has published two books: Handy Latin Phrases and The Adventures of Guanacoman. A regular on ABC radio, Triple R and 2SER, he has been described as "puerile and bigoted" by Miranda Devine, and is currently engaged in a campaign to become Australia's first Poet Laureate.

Join him in his dangerously obsessive quest for fame, continuing at Sweetalkers

-Don't Give Up

if you are not seeing a playable window above click here for a direct YouTube link

BRONWYN LOVELL

Bronwyn Lovell is an emerging poet and spoken word performer in Melbourne, featuring at many events and festivals as well as on community radio and local television. She has a writing residency at Kinfolk Cafe as part of Australian Poetry Ltd’s Cafe Poets Program, and she is a workshop facilitator for the Centre for Poetics and Justice.

In 2011 she travelled to the US, where she was the first Australian to compete in the Women of the World Poetry Tournament. www.bronwynlovell.com

-Troubled Men

if you are not seeing a playable window above click here for a direct YouTube link

LINDA BEATTY

A classically trained singer and Celtic harpist, Linda offers an original twist to the cabaret and stand-up genres, with heavenly singing and twisted fairy tales she explores the lies adults tell themselves.

She won The Comics Lounge Best New Comic award in 2009, was the Green Faces Comedy finalist and St Kilda Laughs Festival finalist, and in 2010 was the Raw Comedy state finalist for Victoria, was awarded an Outside Eye Mentorship by The Melbourne Fringe Festival. This year her show The UnEnchanted Princess received rave reviews during The Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Those who love comedy, fairy tales, Disney and their cabaret sweetly dark will adore Linda Beatty, and we are honoured to have her perform for us at Sweetalkers.

-The UnEnchanted Princess

if you are not seeing a playable window above click here for a direct YouTube link

ROBIN ARCHBOLD

Our poster boy for this month, Robin Archbold is the co-founder of the Nimbin Performance Poetry World Cup, winner of the Woodford folk festivals slam and many others, featured at Australian Poetry Slam Final, the Queensland Poetry Festival, Tasmanian Poetry Festival and just about everywhere else really.

Archy attacks the stage with a mixture of charm, humour, rhyme and a occasionally indulged his penchant for ripping of his clothes of during shws. A personal inspiration and friend of mine ever since I saw him close out the last Wordplay gig in 2009, I'm absolutely delighted to present him at Sweetalkers.

if you are not seeing a playable window above click here for a direct YouTube link

The line up is stellar, the bar is open, the burgers are $5, the entry is $10, the stage is set (or will be when y'get there), the start time 7.30, and the MC is OMAR MUSA

That's alotta wow for one gig, come along and soak it up Sunday November 13th.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

walking in two hours lateto find him tabling for twoevening's second jug sittingwith a spare seat thirstyand conspicuously vacant second glasswith my name on it

while his nameand picturegrace the hoodie I'm wearingand with all this BFF-BSyes,we must look cute between the hugsif only anyone was watching uscutebut not gay'cause us cats done tried out that routine onceto get cheap lap dances -didn't work

bromance doesn't apply to us eitherwe're already individually far too melodramaticto have that shit stickwe've got sentiment on wholesalepiled up into smilesbut can't move the stockoff these docksnot with all the... strikeswe work through

nopechicks see us coming every timemixed metaphors with in-jokeslast smokes and new hopeshanded enough ropeto hang ourselves, around 'til closepros at prosebut everybody knowswe're just a messjoined at the hip-pocketjust as broke as we've gone foracross this countrytwo-crumpled faces into bus ticketstrench coats and memorised poetry linesthat you forgetthat you'll forgetwhen you get that drunk

and we always get that drunkand we always stay that lateand we're always getting stuckbut never for something to saywith much between us we don't need to say

like I'm saying (hiccup)that about the best luckeither of uscuntshas ever hadis that oncewe were lucky enough

just

to have met each other

...and a great hoodie it is too, check out Smarty's home shopping network here. Can't go spelling shameless without me.